You can help support traumatised and homeless Christian widows and orphans in troubled Indonesia by designating a gift to Open Doors' work in South East Asia.
Posted on 11/01/2004 4:47:16 PM PST by miltonim
Man shot in church
Bombs found; pig farms attacked by Muslims.
Christians in the Poso area of Indonesia have experienced renewed violence in recent weeks. This violence comes only a few months after many of the troops were withdrawn from the area, believing it was secure. Intermittent attacks by violent Islamists have threatened to re-ignite the tensions between Christians and Muslims.
More than ten gunmen raided the village of Mauro on the night of 13 October. Going house-to-house, the gunmen would shout for help and wait for the occupants to come out. When the villagers would not come out, the gunmen shot through the doors and windows. Three people were shot, one fatally.
At around 9:30pm on 21 October, snipers shot and injured Hans Sanipi, 25, custodian of the Tabernakel Pentecostal Church in Poso, Central Sulawesi. Hans was speaking with several other people in front of the church when two men on a motorbike rode past and shot randomly into the crowd.
Christians and Muslims are speculating why police have not yet found the mysterious drive-by killers who have murdered at least five Christians and injured 11 others since April 2004.
Mona Saroinsong, coordinator of the CC-SAG Crisis Centre in North Sulawesi, pointed out that "in almost every corner of Poso city, there is a police or military post. Why can't the security forces find the perpetrators?"
A Christian leader, who preferred not to be named, commented, "It could be that the police have some of their own men involved, or they are afraid to deal with the problem in case the military are somehow behind all this. I don't know; we're still in the dark."
Accusations of police and military involvement in the sectarian conflicts of Sulawesi and neighbouring Ambon have been widespread since the conflicts erupted in the late 1990s. Despite peace accords signed in December 2001 and February 2002, sporadic violence continues between Muslim and Christian communities in Sulawesi and the Maluku islands.
Bombs found
On 24 October, three days after Hans Sanipi was shot, residents found a cache of 123 homemade bombs in a Muslim cemetery in Poso, the Jakarta Post reported. According to ABC Radio Australia, the bombs were found after bulldozers cleared shrubs to enlarge the cemetery.
Poso Police Chief Abdi Darma said the bombs were filled with shrapnel, including nails and sharpened metal. No comment or speculation was made on the identity of those who had stockpiled the weapons.
On the same day, a bomb threat was made against the Bank Modern Express in the neighbouring island of Ambon. Two days earlier, on 22 October, Christians found a suitcase containing 15 homemade bombs in the Baileo Oikumene building, adjacent to the Protestant Maranatha church in Ambon city.
A report by Asia News claimed similar devices were found on 20 October at nearby Silo Church, the oldest Protestant church in the city.
The Amboina Diocese Crisis Centre reported that the bombs were simple devices with low explosive potential. However, church members were disturbed at the finding.
Clashes
Sectarian clashes over the past five years have claimed thousands of lives on the island. The violence abated somewhat in 2003, but residents fear a new outbreak that may lead to more bloodshed.
Police Chief Commander Brig. Gen. Aditya Warman told members of the Amboina Crisis Centre that he believes certain individuals in Jakarta had hired people in Ambon to carry out these terrorist threats, "hoping – for whatever reason – for a resumption of the Malukus conflict."
Meanwhile, members of the South Tatura Muslim youth organisation in Palu, Central Sulawesi, launched their own attack on 20 October, targeting pig farms operated by Christians.
The pig farms are an affront to Muslims who consider pork to be ceremonially unclean. Muslim residents had previously filed objections with the local government, and the farmers were ordered to relocate further away from residential areas, but the orders were ignored.
Youths carrying spears, machetes and wooden sticks attacked several sheds and accused the farmers of polluting the Palu River.
The Jakarta Post reported that about 20 pigs were slaughtered in the attack. Farmers estimated total losses of around 75 million rupiah (£4,500); farm property was badly damaged, and each pig was worth 600,000 to 800,000 rupiah (£35 to £50).
The leader of the youth organisation, Abdul Haris, defended the move and said the odor of the pig farms was offensive, "especially during Ramadan".
This year's observance of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, began on 15 October and will end on 12November.
You can help support traumatised and homeless Christian widows and orphans in troubled Indonesia by designating a gift to Open Doors' work in South East Asia.
Bring 'em on.
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